Estimated reading time: 5 mins
A Guest Post by Brenda Berg
You’ve completed your college or university, and you’re now looking for the next step to further your career in your chosen industry. Many students and graduates choose a variety of routes, one of the most popular being an internship.
This is an effective way to gain your work experience, put into practice everything you’ve learned in college or university and learn skills to succeed in your career. It can be the seasonal internship, paid or unpaid but you gain the opportunity to not only get experience, work with professionals and mentor but to proceed in your career within the company after your internship ends.
But, how do you go about finding these internships and how will you secure the perfect place? How can you increase your chances to obtain dream internship? In this article, we’ll show you how to do just that.
Finding the Perfect Internship: Part One
First things first. You need to find an internship that’s suitable for you. Luckily, there are a wide variety of places you can look like Internship reviews. Companies open their internship programs all the time.
But one of the most common places is through a work placement agency. These will host and advertise internships from around the country, some, even the world. Simply sign up and fill out your application and these agencies will send you links to internships as and when they arise.
Finding the Perfect Internship: Part Two
Alternatively, you can approach the companies themselves. This is highly recommended as you’ll be able to approach companies that may not list on agency websites and you’ll be able to choose the companies that you want to apply for.
Mike Rosser, a CV writer at Australian reviewer states, “Make a list of top ten companies you would like to work for. From here, log on to their websites to see if they have intern positions available. You will usually find these positions and requirements listed on the website’s careers page”
Also, the old but still effective way is to call the companies. On all companies’ websites, there are phone numbers to each of department so you can easily reach to the recruiter and offer your candidature for the internship. Even if there is no opened internship or available role position for you, you may ask them to add your contact details and contact you when it will be the right time.
Perfecting Your CV
Now that you’ve found the perfect place that has an internship for you, it’s time to start applying. But hold up! You don’t want to send off an outdated CV that you had for your part-time job in a university.
This may be your only form of communication with your desired company so it needs to stand out and be the best it can be. Update it thoroughly. Some tips for your CV include putting all your relevant and most outstanding achievements first. You’ll also want it to be concise and full of how much passion and enthusiasm you have.
Paying Attention to Grammar and Mistakes
Writing any form of document about yourself can be tricky, even more so when it comes to proofreading and editing your CV and cover letter to ensure it’s grammatically perfect by using Grammarix and ensure it has a high level of readability.
Remember, that your CV is your business card and it has to be perfect. If you’re in any doubt, it’s highly recommended that you use a website that provides a professional proofreading and editing. You can enlist the help of a professional CV writer if you’re struggling to create a CV altogether.
Don’t forget about Cover Letter. Even if companies don’t require it, it will increase your chances among other candidates.
Tidying Your Social Media Profiles
This is a concept that most aspiring interns overlook. If your potential employer likes what they see in your CV, the chances are that the next thing they will do is to check your social media profiles. You can almost guarantee it. This means, before they do this, you need to tidy them up and make them perfect.
A couple of photos here and there from a night out is fine. However, any potentially offensive material or pictures of you breaking the law in any way or looking too intoxicated will need to be removed as soon as possible.
Darren Parker, a recruitment manager from Top Canadian writers , explains, “According to recent statistics, over 70% of recruiters now check a potential applicant’s social media profiles during the employment process. When cleaning up your profiles, ensure you have a professional looking image for your picture, and you haven’t bad-mouthed any previous employers or past colleagues.”
Researching Your Company
So, you’ve tidied everything up, sent out your CVs and now the company has asked you to come in for an interview. The final tip to remember is to research the company before you go. Try and learn everything there is to know about them.
How long has the company existed? What is the company’s motto, mission and vision? What is the company culture like? What kind of people are they looking for in their intern program? With this knowledge behind you, you’re sure to obtain the internship of your dreams.
Nailing the Interview
This is the final step on the way to your dream internship so be prepared to answer all common and possible questions which recruiter can ask you. Also, you may ask a friend of yours to practice the whole interview process. And analyse all mistakes from the past interviews and work on questions you could answer better.
Present yourself to the recruiter as the best candidate for their company and internship. They have to see that you are a professional and the best fit their company culture. Show your interest by preparing questions to the recruiter too.
Also, work on your confidence. If you are confident about yourself, your skills, experience then the recruiter won’t doubt your words and your candidature.
Bio: Brenda Berg is a professional with over 15 years of experience in business management, marketing and entrepreneurship. Consultant and tutor for college students and entrepreneurs at UK services reviews and Student writing services. She believes that constant learning is the only way to success. You can visit her personal blog at Letsgoandlearn.com.
